Category: Theological e-piphanies

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 8 ~ January 25

Called for the Service of Reconciliation

Day 8 concludes the journey with a call from the Jerusalem churches to the wider service of reconciliation. Even if Christians achieve unity among themselves, their work is not done, for they need to reconcile themselves with others. In the Jerusalem context this means Palestinian and Israeli; in other communities, Christians are challenged to seek justice and reconciliation in their own context.

Reading

Genesis 33:1-4     Esau ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him…
Psalm: 96:1-13     Say among the nations, ‘The Lord is King!’
2 Corinthians 5:17-21    God… has given us the ministry of reconciliation
Matthew 5:21-26    Leave your gift before the altar, and go: first be reconciled…

Commentary

Our prayers of this week have taken us on a journey together. Guided by the scriptures, we have been called to return to our Christian origins – that apostolic Church at Jerusalem. Here we have seen devotion – to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. At the end of our reflections on the ideal of Christian community presented to us in Acts 2:42, we return to our own contexts – the realities of divisions, discontents, disappointments and injustices. At this point the Church of Jerusalem poses us the question: to what, then, as we conclude this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity are we called, here and now?

Christians in Jerusalem today suggest an answer to us: we are called, above all, to the service of reconciliation. Such a call concerns reconciliation on many levels, and across a complexity of divisions. We pray for Christian unity so that the Church might be a sign and instrument for the healing of political and structural divisions and injustices; for the just and peaceful living together of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim peoples; for the growing in understanding between people of all faiths and none. In our personal and family lives, too, the call to reconciliation must find a response.

Jacob and Esau, in the Genesis text, are brothers, yet estranged. Their reconciliation comes even when enduring conflict might have been expected. Violence and the habits of anger are put aside as the brothers meet and weep together.

The recognition of our unity as Christians – and indeed as human beings – before God leads us into the Psalm’s great song of praise for the Lord who rules the world with loving justice. In Christ, God seeks to reconcile to Himself all peoples. In describing this, St. Paul, in our second reading, celebrates a life of reconciliation as “ a new creation”. The call to reconcile is the call to allow God’s power in us to make all things new.

Once again, we know that this ‘good news’ calls us to change the way we live. As Jesus challenges us, in the account given by St. Matthew, we cannot go on making offerings at the altar, in the knowledge that we are responsible for divisions or injustices. The call to prayer for Christian unity is a call to reconciliation. The call to reconciliation is a call to actions – even actions which interrupt our church activities.

Prayer

God of Peace, we thank you that you sent your Son Jesus, so that we might be reconciled to yourself in Him. Give us the grace to be effective servants of reconciliation within our churches. In this way help us to serve the reconciliation of all peoples, particularly in your Holy Land – the place where you demolish the wall of separation between peoples, and unite everyone in the Body of Jesus, sacrificed on Mount Calvary. Fill us with love for one another; may our unity serve the reconciliation that you desire for all creation. We pray in the power of the Spirit. Amen.

The materials contained herein are drawn entirely from materials that are jointly prepared and published by The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches.

January 25, 2011
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 7 ~ January 24

Living in Resurrection Faith

Day 7 takes us beyond the four elements of unity, as the Jerusalem church joyfully proclaims the Resurrection even while it bears the pain of the Cross. The Resurrection of Jesus is for Christians in Jerusalem today hope and strength that enables them to remain constant in their witness, working for freedom and peace in the City of Peace.

Reading

Isaiah 60: 1-3, 18-22 You shall call your walls Salvation…
Psalm: 118:1. 5-17     I shall not die, but I shall live
Roman 6: 3-11            …we have been buried with Christ by baptism
Matthew 28:1-10         Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid…

Commentary

The first Christians’ devotion to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of the bread and the prayers was made possible, above all, by the living power of the Risen Jesus. This power is living still, and today’s Jerusalem Christians witness to this. Whatever the difficulties of the present situa-tion in which they find themselves – however much it feels like Gethsemane and Golgotha – they know in faith that all is made new by the truth of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

The light and hope of the Resurrection changes everything. As Isaiah prophesies, it is the transfor-mation of darkness into light; it is an enlightening for all peoples. The power of the Resurrection shines out from Jerusalem, the place of the Lord’s Passion, and draws all nations to its brightness. This is a new life, in which violence is put aside, and security found in salvation and praise.

In the Psalm we are given words to celebrate the central Christian experience of passing from death to life. This is the abiding sign of God’s steadfast love. This passing from the terrors of death into new life is the defining reality of all Christians. For, as St. Paul teaches, we have, in baptism, entered into the tomb with Christ, and been raised with Him. We have died with Christ, and live to share his risen life. And so we can see the world differently – with compassion, patience, love and hope; for, in Christ the present struggles can never be the whole story. Even as divided Christians, we know that the baptism that unites us is a bearing of the Cross in the light of the Resurrection.

For the Christian Gospel this resurrection life is not some mere concept or helpful idea; it is rooted in a vivid event in time and space. It is this event we hear recounted in the Gospel reading with great humanity and drama. From Jerusalem the Risen Lord sends greetings to His disciples across the ages, calling us to follow Him without fear. He goes ahead of us.

Prayer

God, Protector of the widow, the orphan and the stranger – in a world where many know despair, you raised your Son Jesus to give hope for humanity and renewal to the earth. Continue to strengthen and unify your Church in its struggles against the forces of death in the world, where violence against creation and humanity obscures the hope of the new life you offer. This we pray in the name of the Risen Lord, in the power of His Spirit. Amen.

The materials contained herein are drawn entirely from materials that are jointly prepared and published by The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches.

January 24, 2011
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 6 ~ January 23

Empowered to Action and Prayer

Day 6 presents the fourth mark of unity; with the church in Jerusalem, we draw strength from spending time in prayer. Specifically, the Lord’s Prayer calls all of us in Jerusalem and throughout the world, the weak and the mighty, to work together for justice, peace and unity that God’s Kingdom may come.

Reading

Jonah 2:1-9         Deliverance belongs to the Lord!
Psalm 67:1-7     Let the peoples praise you, O God!
1Timothy 2:1-8    …prayers should be made for everyone…
Matthew 6:5-15 Your kingdom come, your will be done…

Commentary

Following devotion to the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship and the breaking of the bread, the fourth mark of the earliest Church of Jerusalem is the life of prayer. It is experienced today as the necessary source of the power and strength needed by Christians in Jerusalem – as everywhere. The witness of Christians in Jerusalem today calls us to a deeper recognition of the ways we face situations of injustice and inequality in our own contexts. In all this, it is prayer that empowers Christians for mission to-gether.

For Jonah the intensity of his prayer is met with dramatic deliverance from the belly of the fish. His prayer is heartfelt, as it arises from his own sense of repentance at having tried to avoid God’s will: he has abandoned the Lord’s call to prophesy, and ended up in a hopeless place. And here God meets his prayer with deliverance for his mission.

The Psalm calls us to pray that God’s face will shine upon us – not only for our own benefit, but for the spread of His rule ‘among all the nations’.

The apostolic Church reminds us that prayer is a part of the strength and power of mission and proph-ecy for the world. Paul’s letter to Timothy here instructs us to pray especially for those with power in the world so that we may live together in peace and dignity. We pray for the unity of our societies, and lands, and for the unity of all humanity in God. Our prayer for our unity in Christ reaches out to the whole world.

This dynamic life of prayer is rooted in the Lord’s teaching to his disciples. In our reading from Mat-thew’s Gospel we hear of prayer as a ‘secret’ power, born not from display or performance, but from humble coming before the Lord. Jesus’ teaching is summed up in the Lord’s Prayer. Praying this together forms us as a united people who seek the Father’s will, and the building up of His Kingdom here on earth, and calls us to a life of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Prayer

Lord God our Father, we rejoice that in all times, places and cultures, there are people who reach out to you in prayer. Above all we thank you for the example and teaching of your Son, Jesus Christ, who has taught us to long in prayer for the coming of your Kingdom. Teach us to pray better as Christians together, so that we may always be aware of your guidance and encouragement through all our joys and distress, through the power your Holy Spirit. Amen.

The materials contained herein are drawn entirely from materials that are jointly prepared and published by The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches.

January 23, 2011
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 5 ~ January 22

Breaking the Bread in Hope

Day 5 expresses the third element of unity; the Breaking of the Bread, which joins us in hope. Our unity goes beyond Holy Communion; it must include a right attitude towards ethical living, the human person and the whole community. The Jerusalem church urges Christians to unite in “the breaking of bread” today, because a divided church cannot speak out with authority on issues of Justice and Peace.

Reading

Exodus 16: 13b-21a    It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat

Psalm:116: 12-14.16-18    I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice

1 Corinthians 11:17-18.23-26     Do this in remembrance of me

John 6:53-58       This is the bread that came down from heaven…

Commentary

From the first Church at Jerusalem until now, the ‘breaking of bread’ has been a central act for Christians. For the Christians of Jerusalem today, the sharing of bread traditionally speaks of friendship, forgiveness and commitment to the other. We are challenged in this breaking of bread to seek a unity that can speak prophetically to a world of divisions. This is the world by which we have all, in different ways, been shaped. In the breaking of bread Christians are formed anew for the prophetic message of hope for all humankind.

Today we, too, break bread ‘with glad and generous hearts’; but we also experience, at each celebration of the Eucharist, a painful reminder of our disunity. On this fifth day of the Week of Prayer, the Christians of Jerusalem gather in the Upper Room, the place of the Last Supper. Here, whilst they do not celebrate the Eucharist, they break bread in hope.

We learn this hope in the ways God reaches out to us in the wilderness of our own discontent. Exodus relates how God responds to the grumbling of the people he has liberated, by providing them with what they need – no more, and no less. The manna in the desert is a gift of God, not to be hoarded, nor even fully understood. It is, as our Psalm celebrates, a moment which calls simply for thanksgiving – for God ‘has loosened our bonds’.

What St. Paul recognises is that to break the bread means not only to celebrate the Eucharist, but to be a Eucharistic people – to become Christ’s Body in the world. This short reading stands, in its context (1 Cor 10 – 11) as a reminder of how the Christian community is to live: in communion in Christ, determining right behaviour in a difficult worldly context, guided by the reality of our life in Him. We live “in remembrance of him.”

As a people of the breaking of bread, we are a people of eternal life – life in its fullness – as the reading from St. John teaches us. Our celebration of Eucharist challenges us to reflect on how such an abundant gift of life is expressed day to day as we live in hope as well as in difficulties. In spite of the daily challenges for the Christians in Jerusalem, they witness to how it is possible to rejoice in hope.

Prayer

God of Hope, we praise you for your gift to us of the Lord’s Supper, where, in the Spirit, we continue to meet your Son Jesus Christ, the living bread from heaven. Forgive our unworthiness of this great gift – our living in factions, our collusion with inequalities, our complacency in separation. Lord, we pray that you will hasten the day when your whole church together shares the breaking of the bread, and that, as we wait for that day, we may learn more deeply to be a people formed by the Eucharist for service to the world. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The materials contained herein are drawn entirely from materials that are jointly prepared and published by The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches.

January 22, 2011
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 4 ~ January 21

Sharing, an Expression of Our Unity

Day 4 emphasizes Sharing as the second expression of unity. Just as the early Christians held all things in common, the Church in Jerusalem calls upon all brothers and sisters in the church to share goods and burdens with glad and generous hearts, so that nobody stays in need.

Readings

Isaiah 58:6-10       Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
Psalm 37:1-11       Trust in the Lord and do good
Acts 4:32-37          Everything they owned was held in common
Matthew 6:25-34    Strive first for the kingdom of God

Commentary

The sign of continuity with the apostolic Church of Jerusalem is “devotion to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers.” The Church of Jerusalem today, however, recalls to us the practical consequences of such devotion – sharing. The Acts of the Apostles states simply that “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute to all, as any had need” (Acts 2.44-45). Today’s reading from the Book of Acts links such radical sharing with the powerful apostolic “testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” The later Imperial Roman persecutors of the Church would note with certain accuracy: “see how they love one another.”

Such a sharing of resources characterizes the life of Christian people in Jerusalem today. It is a sign of their continuity with the first Christians; it is a sign and a challenge to all the churches. It links proclamation of the Gospel, the celebration of the Eucharist and the fellowship (or communion) of the Christian community with radical equality and justice for all. In so far as such sharing is a testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and a sign of continuity with the apostolic Church of Jerusalem, it is equally a sign of our unity with one another.

There are many ways of sharing. There is the radical sharing of the apostolic church where nobody was left in need. There is the sharing of one another’s burdens, struggles, pain and suffering. There is the sharing in one another’s joys and achievements, blessings and healing. There is also the sharing of gifts and insights from one church tradition to another even in our separation from another, an “ecumenical exchange of gifts.” Such generous sharing is a practical consequence of our devotion to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship; it is a consequence of our prayer for Christian unity.

Prayer

God of Justice, your giving is without bounds. We thank you that you have given what we need, so that all may be fed, clothed and housed. Guard us from the selfish sin of hoarding, and inspire us to be instruments of love, sharing all that you give us, as a witness to your generosity and justice. As followers of Christ, lead us to act together in places of want: where families are driven from their homes, where the vulnerable suffer at the hands of the powerful, where poverty and unemployment destroy lives. We pray in the name of Jesus, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The materials contained herein are drawn entirely from materials that are jointly prepared and published by The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches.

January 21, 2011
One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism

This will reach you during The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This annual observance always begins on January 18, the Confession of St. Peter, and continues until January 25, the Conversion of St. Paul.

Once we thought Christian unity meant all Christians should be organized into one big church. Today’s approach is summed up in a Latin phrase, “In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas” commonly translated as "unity in necessary things; liberty in doubtful things; charity in all things." The phrase has often been attributed to 4th century bishop St. Augustine of Hippo, but has also been attributed to 17th century Croatian Bishop Marco Antonio de Dominis and English author and Puritan Richard Baxter of the same era. Regardless of who said it, it is worthy of contemplation as we pray and work for Christian unity.

Sunday’s Epistle reminds us that Christians have sought unity from the earliest days. St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose” (I Cor. 1:10).

I wish other groups of Christians could know the kind of unity that exists in The Church of the Good Shepherd – an inviting, unity of heart, mind, and purpose that is in contrast to the day-to-day conflicts that plague us. It is not a unity based on agreement in everything, but is similar to what St. Paul described in another message he sent to the Ephesians, “I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:1-6).

Perhaps there is some way it can be exported. Let me tell you about a place that did just that.

On November 14, 1940, much of the City of Coventry, England was reduced to rubble by German bombs. The Cathedral Church of St. Michael and All Angels, at the heart of the city, burned with it. In the terrible aftermath that followed, Provost Howard wrote the words ‘Father forgive’ on the smoke-blackened wall of the sanctuary. Two of the charred beams that had fallen in the shape of a cross were set on the altar and three of the medieval nails were bound into the shape of a cross. The people of Coventry found the grace to overcome the anger they felt toward their enemies who destroyed their Cathedral and almost destroyed their entire city.

After the war, they decided to share that grace with others. Crosses of Nails were presented to Kiel, Dresden, and Berlin, cities shattered by Allied bombing. Out of those ashes grew a trust and partnership between Coventry and the German cities. The Community of the Cross of Nails came into being. There are now 160 of Cross of Nails Centres around the world, all emanating from this early, courageous vision, and all working for peace and reconciliation within their own communities and countries. The Cross of Nails has become a powerful and inspirational symbol of reconciliation and peace.

The original Cross of Nails is now incorporated in the cross on the Cathedral High Altar. The twisted arms of the High Altar cross symbolize the charred timbers from the roof of the original Cathedral, which were made into a cross to replace the original High Altar cross. The nails and twisted arms also symbolize Christ's suffering on the original Cross.

Give thanks to God for our unity and pray that we will be a light to others who seek oneness in Christ. Every shining example of a community of Christians living into the oneness for which our Savior prayed is part of the answer to his prayer "that they all might be one" and all prayers for unity among all God's children.

January 20, 2011
Sermon at Church of the Good Shepherd ~ January 16, 2011

Read Sermon for January 16, 2011

Listen to Sermon for January 16, 2011

January 16, 2011
The Search for Authenticity

The vestry of The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Lexington, where I am serving as Interim Rector, is accepting applications from its members to serve on the Rector Nominating Committee. This committee will guide the process from a parish self-study all the way through to the time when they will present nominations of two or three priests to the vestry, which will extend a call.

The search for a rector is a process of mutual discernment. Just as the Rector Nominating Committee and Vestry will be looking at potential rectors, those potential rectors will also be looking at the parish. In fact, we have to assume that a number of people have already been looking at the parish and diocesan websites.

Just as the parish hopes the priest that is finally called will be who he or she claims to be, the parish must also hope to be the parish it claims to be! In this mutual discernment, parish leaders and prospective rectors will not be looking for perfection, in the sense of being complete and without errors or flaws. What everyone will be looking for is authenticity!

The serch for authenticity in the discernment process is sort of like peeling back the layers of an onion. Nobody can predict the outcome of this discernment process. Permit me to share an example of how unpredictable the process of calling a spiritual leader can be.

Fifty-seven years ago, two Baptist congregations that were looking for a new pastor both wanted the same young man, a recent graduate of Boston University School of Theology. They wanted to meet him and listen to him preach. He asked each committee, “About what shall I preach?” They both responded, “Preach about your dreams and visions.”

When the people from the First Baptist Church in Chattanooga heard him, they did not believe his vision for the City of God and rejected him as a possible pastor. Although surprised and shaken, the young man did not lose confidence in the dreams and visions God had given him.

When people from a Montgomery, Alabama congregation heard him preach, they believed his vision, called him to be their pastor, and he accepted. Within a few months, a black woman of that city named Rosa Parks, refused to go to the back of the bus and the African American leadership of Montgomery turned to their newest pastoral leader, The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. of The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church for leadership. He led a crusade to tear down the walls of legal segregation. His authentic witness to what he had seen and heard cost him his life in 1968. But because of his witness, others heard and saw the vision, dreamed the dream, and continue to carry on the work.

The right pastor at the right church at the right moment in history. Who could have predicted it? Who could have predicted what would happen two millennia after a young Jewish carpenter invited a dozen average people in the remote hills of Galilee to follow him?

This is for certain: the disciples, the people of Dexter Avenue, and Dr. King were listening when the call came and they responded in trust and authenticity when they heard it. They knew they weren't perfect but they trusted God to empower them to do what needed doing and to make them the people God was calling them to be. And that’s the task that lies ahead of any community of faith that is in transition and any member of the clergy who is under consideration to be their new spiritual leader.

"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God" (Hebrews 10:31) but when in trust we place ourselves in God's hands, God forms us, shapes us, and does more with us than we can possibly do with ourselves. God With Us makes authenticity possible.

January 13, 2011
What I Am Giving God This Year ~ Glory and Praise

During the Advent season, I shared some of the things I want to give God this year:

1. Undivided Attention
2. Authenticity
3. Trust
4. Obedience

The fifth item on my gift list for God is this: Glory and Praise.

Christmas calls us back to the Judean hillsides and sits us down among those shepherds who heard the angels’ song: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace and goodwill to all people." God still tears open the skies for us. The angel host sings to God "glory!" And, to us they sing "peace and goodwill." It's a simple song and a simple message: Glory is for God and peace and goodwill is for us.

When we forget that, which from the looks of things happens quite often, we tend to get the tables turned so that we think we get the glory and God is entitled to peace and goodwill in the heavenly places with all those souls we no longer have to cope with. This year, I want the tables to be turned back to the way God intended.

People who wanted glory crucified the Word made flesh. In our own quest for glory, we still do that. Theologian Nathan D. Mitchell offers a sobering reminder that the Christ of the Crib is also the Christ of the Cross.

Christmas calls a community back to its origins by remembering Jesus' own beginnings as a human child, a prophet of God's reign, a judgment on the world and its projects. What the parish celebrates during this season is not primarily a birthday, but the beginning of a decisive new phase in the tempestuous history of God's hunger for human companions. The social concerns of the season are thus rooted in Jesus' proclamation of God's reign: the renunciation of patterns that oppress others and the formation of a new human community that voluntarily embraces those renunciations. It is an Adult Christ that the community encounters during the Advent and Christmas seasons: a Risen Lord who invites sinful people to become church. Christmas does not ask us to pretend that we were back in Bethlehem, kneeling before a crib; it asks us to recognize that the wood of the crib became the wood of the cross.

This year, I want to be sure to give God glory and praise. And, as always, God wants to give all people on earth peace and goodwill. That is the essence of salvation! Maybe if I get out of the glory business there'll be room for us to live and work together more effectively for peace and goodwill.

If you will join me in giving God glory and praise, a mystery will occur. The heavens will light up and we will be drawn closer together in communion. In this communion we will experience peace and goodwill. We will know for ourselves the meaning of salvation.

The Word did not become a philosophy, a theory, or a concept to be discussed, debated, or pondered. The Word became a person to be followed, enjoyed, and loved! So, let us dance with delight in the Word made flesh and let our hearts be filled with rejoicing, for eternal salvation has appeared on the earth. Glory to God in the highest and peace to God's people on earth. Alleluia!

December 30, 2010
The Last Day of Advent: Living on the Verge

The season of Advent is ending. It is a season of waiting, expecting, hoping, preparing. But for what?

We’ve been hearing a lot from the prophets during the past four weeks, telling about those who were expecting God to send a Messiah to deliver the Jews from their oppressors. Even tonight, Christmas Eve, we will hear such a message.

Maybe we have been waiting, expecting, hoping, and preparing for one whose revolutionary activities tend toward the liberation and redemption of folks on a more philosophical, theological, or psychological basis. If so, we may have come to this day with some anticipation that something is going to change inside us. Maybe after tonight’s service we will finally “feel” the spirit of Christmas that the soundtracks and displays in the malls haven’t been able to stir up in us. Maybe our Advent has been about getting to this night so that something can happen on the inside of us, "the peace that passes understanding."

As we reach the end of Advent, expectation turns to fulfillment. “Jesus is coming” turns to “Jesus has come.” When that happens, expectation becomes assignment. And we begin to realize that the new world order, the peace that passes understanding, and all the frenetic activity finally converge in this night and in a babe lying in a manger, who grew up to make some pretty serious demands upon us. We’ve been living on the verge of something and here it is!

A bishop once spoke of a priest who “spent forty years living on the verge of ministry.” Forty years “on the verge.” The bishop said, “He kept waiting for the perfect church. Of course, the perfect church never came. At congregation after congregation, he always found something wrong and never quite up to his expectations. He just never got to the church where he could minister. Forty years waiting, forty years complaining, forty years on the verge,” lamented the bishop.

How many people do you know who spend years “on the verge” of being a disciple of Jesus the Messiah? “One day, some day,” they say, “when we get the right church, when we get the right priest, when we get the right feeling, when we get the right answers, when we get everything right, then we’ll finally find fulfillment in our Christianity.

Advent is about being on the verge of something. It’s about being on he verge of the Christ event. It’s
about being on the verge of making some real, tangible changes in the way we live out our discipleship. It’s about being on the verge of knowing the peace which passes understanding. It’s about being on the verge of having the kind of church, the kind of clergy, the kind of resources, the kind of world, the kind of family, and the kind of constellation of emotions to finally DO something about THE thing Advent is all about. Namely, it is about discovering at the end of the journey what the shepherds and wise men and parents of the Holy Child all discovered that first Christmas.

Advent is about coming TO the manger. Christmas is about what we take away FROM the manger. The shepherds went away rejoicing and telling others what they had seen and heard. The wise men returned to their country by another way, amazed by the wonder of it all. Mary and Joseph had to figure out how to raise the Child. And, for you and me, who have arrived at this point to hear the good news, receive the gift, struggle with the mystery of the Incarnation, Christmas happens when we can’t live on the verge of it all any more. We finally, once and for all, have to go out and do something about it.

This is Christmas. This is the fullness of time. This is the night when we exchange our expectation for an assignment. The Incarnation means that God has come to us in the flesh. The Incarnation also means that when we know that, we stop living on the verge of ministry and roll up our sleeves to make the Word flesh in the living of our lives. When he is born in us, the political scene changes because he empowers us to become peacemakers. When he is born in us we find inner peace because we stop trying to be imitators of Christ and become innovations of Christ. When he is born in us we discover a way to cut through all the frenetic activity of life and focus our greatest hopes and energies on the one thing that makes it all meaningful.

O Holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray.
Cast out our sin and enter in.
Be born in us today.

And may your birth, Holy Jesus, transform the world around us and the world inside us so that your kingdom may come and your will be done, on earth – in and through us – as it is in heaven.

December 24, 2010